Headlines

Stories you might have missed from WIRED this week

A Russian robotics company says its product was hit by a Tesla Model S on Autopilot at CES. The whole thing was probably a hoax, but it demonstrates that the public still has a lot to learn about how automated car tech works.

Nightmarish, or fun? CES is all the excuse Hyundai needs to introduce its legged car concept. It can roll on roads or extend its appendages and clawed feet to climb stairs or trek over difficult terrain.

In Vegas, the Israeli company Guardian Optical Technologies rolled out its new “Optical Cabin Control” feature. The sensor-enabled tech is for spying—but hopefully for good. It promises to monitor drivers’ eyes, head, and, yes, butt movements to ensure they’re paying attention while using new, semiautonomous car tech. (The butt sensors are for ensuring airbags are properly armed while there are passengers in the car.)

Mapping and location data company HERE unveils SoMo, an app platform for all the cab companies that have been pummeled by ride-hail. It will launch in 15 global cities, including London, Amsterdam, New Orleans, and LA.

The experienced helicopter-smiths at Bell would like you to say hello to its own vertical-takeoff aircraft, the 6,000-pound Nexus, which uses six tilting, ducted fans to reach a top speed of 150 mph, with a 150-mile range. The hybrid-electric craft might one day be the backbone of Uber’s much-touted air taxi program.

VW’s Electrify America initiative (which it was forced to launch as part of its Dieselgate settlement) announces a fun innovation: chargers that will recognize your electric car and bill you automatically for your charge-up.

Ford says toodle-oo to Chariot, its app-based shuttle service, which it acquired just two years ago for more than $60 million. Its collapse is further proof, I write, that making money off transportation is hard.

Some good news for Uber and Lyft, according to a new Pew Research survey: 36 percent of Americans now say they’ve used ride-hail services, compared to 15 percent three years ago. Less good news: Just 8 percent say they use it weekly. The companies would like to see more users turning to their services—be them ride-hail, scooters, or bikes—more regularly.

Stat of the Week

3%

The increase in diesel and jet fuel use last year, according to the research firm Rhodium Group. That jump, due mostly to the booming trucking and aviation sectors, contributed to a 3.4 percent bump in carbon dioxide emissions in 2018, the most significant increase in eight years.

Required Reading

The number of US households with one car per worker—“car-rich” ones—is growing.

The academics behind a groundbreaking 2015 study on the gig economy revisit their work—and find that the number of Americans performing contract, “on-demand” work was skewed by the recession. They conclude that the sharing economy is much smaller than they had thought.

In the Rearview

Aarian Marshall writes about autonomous vehicles, transportation policy, urban planning, and everyone’s favorite topic: How to destroy traffic. (You can’t, really.) She’s an aspiring bike commuter and New Yorker going soft on San Francisco, where she’s based. Before WIRED, Marshall wrote for The Atlantic’s CityLab, GOOD, and Agri-Pulse, an agriculture... Read more

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